Charlotte's plan

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It's got a pub, a few hundred houses and about 1,000 locals, but
it might be down to a spider and a pig to really put the place on
the map.

Greendale, in rural Victoria, has been chosen by Paramount
Pictures as the location for a major Hollywood movie -
Charlotte's Web.

"It is activity, a marketing opportunity that you would do
handstands for," Moorabool Shire Mayor John Cutler said today.

For the picturesque community, about half way between Melbourne
and Ballarat, it's going to mean jobs and a chance to sell its
tourism assets to a vast market that would otherwise have been well
beyond its reach.

And with orchards, deep gorges and forests to draw people in, Mr
Cutler is hoping the film will prove a tourism bonanza for the
area.

"There is the short-term obvious gain but it is more about the
long-term marketing component of Moorabool," he said.

"It will really put Moorabool on the map and create some
marketing opportunities for us to tell the rest of the world about
the qualities of the area."

The $80 million movie will be filmed at a secluded farm in the
area with up to 300 locals to be involved, building and working on
the set.

Greendale Hotel owner Graeme Downes said Paramount had looked at
a number of sites in Victoria before settling on the town.

"We have had people sniffing around for a few weeks," Mr Downes
said.

"They decided on this one simply because of the picturesque lay
of the land and the ideal situation for what they wanted to
recreate."

He said Paramount had already advertised for local tradespeople
to help with set construction.

"In the initial construction phase of it, we will get a bit of
work out of it," Mr Downes said.

"For probably five or eight weeks there will be guys around with
the set construction which will give us a bit of a kick along."

Charlotte's Web will recreate a real-life world for
Wilbur the pig and Charlotte the spider from the 1952 children's
book by EB White.

Paramount Pictures and Sagittarius Productions first made the
classic into an animated feature film in 1973.

The latest Charlotte's Web is scheduled for a 2006
release and will be directed by Gary Winick with actors yet to be
cast.

The region is not unfamiliar to film-making - other productions
made in the area included Ned Kelly, Ponderosa,
and Salem's Lot.